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Albania

The guy at Starbucks just did a good job encouraging me to buy some food to go w my coffee, telling me that the latest research proves that we need to eat 5 small meals a day for optimum health – of course my mind immediately goes to Angola with saving Moses and the hunger that I often see there.
But I think that all of us are fundamentally hungry for God. I think if we strip away all of our achievements, relationships, wealth, looks, etc, when we are just ourselves, we are designed to crave our Creator. Yes, I’m hungry but I understand that the hunger of my heart isn’t to look better, to increase my popularity, nor expand my wealth of achievements. At ground zero, we are all hungry for God & His presence in our lives. Recognizing this hunger will increase our potential to live a very fulfilling life 🙂

I was talking w a friend this morning about how she helped her daughter make a diarama (or however you spell it) for her class – sounded pretty cool. On a personal note, I’m “craft impaired.” Whenever I help my children with their school projects that require some craftsmanship – I literally cringe because even when I try to draw a stick figure, it’s generally pathetic. However, I did just renovate the header for this blog to raise the visibility for www.savingmoses.org

I’d encourage you to check out this website to see some really cool things that we are getting to do around the world! Happy Spring renovating 🙂

I’ve been thinking about Saving Moses & here are some things I’ve been pondering:

people from the ages 0-5 are often unable to clearly communicate their needs – how many moms have been at least a little frustrated trying to figure out what their unhappy newborn wants? How much more a newborn with no mom??

the most formative years for a person is from 0-5years of age

a helpless infant doesn’t have to be hopeless or without a hopeful future

small things for infants and toddlers have massive results – both negatively & positively

Jesus, Moses, Josiah and others infants in the Bible had crisis moments where someone stepped in to protect them – to be a hero

This week on our TV program, Today w Marilyn & Sarah, we aired our 1st Saving Moses program – I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting this is to me. Furthermore, we have our website up & running – www.savingmoses.org. Finally, you can also following saving Moses on twitter: savingmoses. At the end of this month, I get to go to Haiti w saving Moses to check on a program that we joined to immunize infants against common diseases before the onset of the rainy season there, when these diseases begin to really escalate. Such simple & small things making the difference between life & death, health & weakness, helpless & hopeful.

I’ve been in Albania now for about 4 days & I’m simply amazed at how wonderful this country is – truth be known, I’ve wanted to come to Albania for more than 20 yrs. Now that I’m here, I’m finding myself becoming more & more connected w the Albanian people. They are very strong in their hearts & relationships. They’re rich on love & community – simply amazing!
We’ve made some fantastic connections w wonderful opportunities for saving Moses. Like Moses, many babies have been abandoned & like Moses they have tremendous potential but just need some help to have a better future than present day.
We’ve seen God do some completely miraculous things that take your breath away – a 10 year old boy whose hearing was compromised was totally healed after his mom prayed for him. We’ve also been able to provide essential humanitarian support for some very impoverished Muslim communities – such warm & gracious people!!
Thanks so much for praying, your encouragment & support. We live to be part of Jesus’ love revolution!

I’m almost speechless from my experiences here in Albania – almost 🙂
Yesterday, we had the privilege of visiting a maternity hospital where they care for abandoned babies. What an absolutely incredible time. In Albania, if a woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock, it’s considered VERY shameful & consequently, the moms are embarassed, try to hide the pregnancy & often neglect their health while carrying the baby. As such, the hospital we visited is trained to care for newborns in distress as well as for ailing mothers. Some of the unwed mothers abandon their newborns in the hospital and the staff and nurses are left to care for these tiny treasures whose futures are very uncertain. I was deeply moved by my experiences yesterday & I get to return to this hospital this morn. Check out the pic we took yesterday:

Greetings from Albania! Yesterday we had the privilege of experiencing a wonderful ministry / NGO for little people under 5 yrs old. We were able to meet around 50 small people between 0-5 years old. Many of these children have been abandoned by their moms & families & consequently need a stable & safe place where they can grow, be fed & cared for.

We also had the honor of meeting 2 new moms – one has a little girl who is 2months old & the other mom is about 6months preg. Both of these unwed moms do not have a permanent place to live nor employment by which to support themselves or their babies. One of the moms is from an orphanage & as such has no familial support. The other mom has been estranged from her family when they found out that she was pregnant. In Albania if a woman gets pregnant out of wedlock, it is common for her family to disown her so she is often left to fend for herself & for her baby, in a country w rather high unemployment. It is a very fightening time for a new mother & I was deeply moved by the tremendous pressure & uncertainty these mothers are facing.

I find in my travels that it is a universal human desire to be loved & secure. As a mother, with Jesus, nothing is more important that we want to give our children than love, security & a future filled w hope

I just landed in Tirana Albania & I’m really excited to see what God is doing here!! I’m excited in many different ways because of the diversity of ministry opportunities that we have here. We get to do some humanitarian relief, we get to pray for the sick in our evening meetings & we get to minister to Christian leaders from throughout Albania. On a personal level, I’m extremely excited about what we get to do in Albania w saving Moses. In a few minutes i’m going to leave w some friends to visit a ministry (NGO) who is very tuned into the needs of kids under 5, infants & pregnant moms. I’m eager to get to bring saving Moses to Albania, the homeland for Mother Teresa – what a fantastic privilege to be in the country where such a powerful & impacting woman was born. Even though she was a flawed human, Jesus used her life in extravgant displays of love. I pray that Jesus would use saving Moses & me to express His deep & profound love to “the least of these.”